butenhof%orac.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (05/23/84)
From: butenhof%orac.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (Dave Butenhof, VAX-11 RSX AME) OK, here: while I hate to flame on such an obviously pyrophilic (-: it ASKS for flames! :-) topic, I just can't pass this one up: > From: sun!qubix!steven @ Ucb-Vax > Subject: Re: Death Star weapon. > > > The plausibility is the same as for FTL, thiotimoline, and the > > radio in Galileo's day - impossibly small *at this time*. Later > > on, who knows? > > <sputter sputter foof> > FTL is *IMPOSSIBLE* DO YOU HEAR ME???? > YOU HAVE A BETTER CHANCE AT MAKING A PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE > THAN YOU HAVE AT MAKING AN FTL DRIVE!!!! > <foof sputter sputter> > > I find it somewhat humorous (in a sick sort of way) that people > who are supposed to be as intelligent as SF readers, can totally > ignore the findings of Einstein -- without even bothering to > read or understand them. > > What Einstein discovered, is a new (UNBREAKABLE) law: much like > the Second Law of Thermodynamics. And ALL THE FUTURE SCIENCE IN > THE WORLD, will not change it, or allow one to get around it > somehow. > > The "hyperspace" excuse, arises from an incomplete understanding > of what Einstein discovered: you cannot "go around" the > distance, because the very act of APPEARING at a place before > light gets there, is exactly equivalent to going backwards > through time. > > Steven Maurer Einstein did NOT codify an unbreakable "law of the universe." What he did was to formulate a new THEORY which explained all observable phenomena better than any previous theory. Like any sophisticated theory, it can never really be proven true (there could always be ONE last phenomenon in the universe which would defy the theory: and that would invalidate it!). It can only be proven FALSE by finding something which doesn't follow it. This has not happened (yet), but may. Until Einstein, the theory of Newton thoroughly covered the area of gravitation and was considered a universal law. We now know that it was merely a local approximation of the truth -- it's still just as valid in many ordinary circumstances, but can't explain all the odd behavior in this universe. It is possible -- even likely -- that we will eventually find that Einstein's theory is similarly limited. We will never know this (or it's converse, that his theory really is perfect) merely by flaming. Whenever someone holds up Einstein as gospel, I've always been reminded of an old short story I read somewhere. You see, it turns out that ages ago, some star traveller's FTL ship crashed on our planet. Due to the technology involved, it's FTL field generator survived, and this field is SOLELY responsible for much of the physics we have developed (including the idea that the speed of light is some sort of universal constant or speed limit). The rest of intergalactic civilization thought this all to be rather amusing, when we finally managed (with non-FTL spaceships) to get outside the field's influence ... dave butenhof Digital Equipment Corp. 110 Spitbrook Rd. Nashua NH orac::butenhof {etc} !decwrl!rhea!orac!butenhof